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WATCH: Videos of wild boars ‘invading’ Rome streets go viral in Italy

Footage showing families of wild boar strolling through traffic in central Rome went viral this week, reigniting a heated debate over the animals’ increased presence in Italian towns and cities.

WATCH: Videos of wild boars ‘invading’ Rome streets go viral in Italy
File photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

One video, reportedly filmed on Via Trionfale in the city’s northern suburbs, showed a family of around 12 wild boar strolling down a busy road and navigating the traffic with ease.

Rangers said the animals were “completely urbanised” and were “in no way afraid” of pedestrians or heavy traffic, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

Another video, shared online by newspaper Repubblica, showed a family of wild boar caught on CCTV cameras roaming Via Fani in the city centre in search of food.

Local residents sharing the video complained that “walking the dog was becoming very dangerous” with largr groups of wild boar roaming around the streets.

As the hashtag #cinghiali (wild boar) began trending on Italian twitter on Wednesday night, some Italian social media users joked that as well as ‘piste ciclabili‘ (bike lanes) the city needed ‘piste cinghiabili’ (wild boar lanes).

But many of Rome’s residents were unsurprised by the videos.

Such sightings have become increasingly common in Rome in recent years, particularly in the northern part of the city, Ansa reports.

READ ALSO: ‘Frozen’ wild boar used to fake road crash in Italy

“They filmed something that we have known well for more than eight years”, one weary resident living near Via Trionfale told Ansa.

The widely-shared videos inflamed a long-running political row over how the animals should be controlled, as famers’ groups said their number had increased sharply during the pandemic.

Responding to questions about the videos asked in parliament on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Stefano Patuanelli described the increased presence of wild boar as “an emergency that is deeply felt throughout the country”.

“Maybe it seems that it is only felt in the Municipality of Rome but unfortunately it is not. It is a problem that all the regional councilors, all the trade associations of all the regions report to me on a daily basis.”

He said new laws were not needed and “It would be enough to apply the existing rules, and I’m referring to the fact that regional authorities can provide for the containment of the wild boar population.”

The proliferation of wild boar in Rome has also become a local election issue, as mayor Virginia Raggi seeks a second term.

“My detractors continue to use photos and videos of wild boar around Rome, giving me full responsibility”, Raggi said.

READ ALSO:

On September 1st, Raggi sued the regional government of the surrounding Lazio region over “the massive and uncontrolled presence” of wild boar in the Italian capital and beyond.

Raggi claims the regional government is responsible, rather than city adinistration, citing a 1992 law which says regions must “provide for the control of species of wild fauna even in areas where hunting is forbidden”.

It was up to the regional government to capture the boar in the capital and release them back into the wild, she said.

Farmers’ group Coldiretti said that during pandemic-related closures last year the number of wild boar straying onto farms and the outskirts of Italian cities had risen by 15% to a record total of 2.3 million animals.

The number of car crashes caused by animals on Italian provincial roads has also risen by 81% over the past 10 years, the farmers association said, saying an accident was caused by wild boar once every 48 hours last year.

There have been 16 fatalities in wild boar-related road accidents in the past year, and 215 people injured, Coldiretti said.

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PROTESTS

Thousands protest in Rome against fascist groups after green pass riots

An estimated 200,000 people descended on Rome on Saturday to call for a ban on fascist-inspired groups, after protests over Italy's health pass system last weekend degenerated into riots.

A general view shows people attending an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome
People attend an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Carrying placards reading “Fascism: Never Again”, the protesters in Piazza San Giovanni — a square historically associated with the left — called for a ban on openly neofascist group Forza Nuova (FN).

FN leaders were among those arrested after the Rome headquarters of the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest — was stormed on October 9th during clashes outside parliament and in the historic centre.

Analysis: What’s behind Italy’s anti-vax protests and neo-fascist violence?

A man holds a placard reading "yes to the vaccine" during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome

A man holds a placard reading “yes to the vaccine” during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“This is not just a retort to fascist ‘squadrismo’,” CGIL secretary general Maurizio Landini said, using a word used to refer to the fascist militias that began operating after World War I.

IN PICTURES: Demonstrators and far right clash with police in Rome after green pass protest

“This piazza also represents all those in Italy who want to change the country, who want to close the door on political violence,” he told the gathered crowds.

Last weekend’s riots followed a peaceful protest against the extension to all workplaces of Italy’s “Green Pass”, which shows proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 test or recent recovery from the virus.

The violence has focused attention on the country’s fascist legacy.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by some 200,000 people, said organisers, with 800 coaches and 10 trains laid on to bring people to the capital for the event.

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

It coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Nazi raid on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

Over 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up at dawn on October 16th, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on during the anti-fascist rally in Rome. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“Neofascist groups have to be shut down, right now. But that has to be just the start: we need an antifascist education in schools,” university student Margherita Sardi told AFP.

READ ALSO: Covid green pass: How are people in Italy reacting to the new law for workplaces?

The centre-left Democratic Party, which has led the calls for FN to be banned, said its petition calling on parliament to do so had gathered 100,000 signatures.

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